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OPINION

Does Ukraine Have Kompromat on Joe Biden? |

Opinion

MAX ABRAHMS , PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
ON 8/8/23 AT 10:31 AM EDT

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OPINION UKRAINE JOE BIDEN HUNTER BIDEN DONALD TRUMP

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T hroughout the Trump presidency, the mainstream media constantly suggested

that Russia had so-called "kompromat" on the president—embarrassing
materials used as a weapon of influence through blackmail. We all remember
the daily deluge: "Does Russia have Kompromat on Trump?" CNN asked. "A Russian
Word Americans Need To Know: 'Kompromat,'" Greg Myre wrote at NPR, concluding that
"Russia may have compromising material on President-elect Donald Trump." The
Guardian agreed, writing there was "apparent confirmation that the Kremlin possesses
kompromat, or potentially compromising material, on Trump... that happened during
Trump's trips to Moscow." Jonathan Chait wrote in New York Magazine that Russia had
"secret leverage over Trump," and "a great deal of incriminating information was
confirmed," a claim reiterated by the BBC in an article called "Russia and the art of
'kompromat'." The Washington Post was obsessed with the conspiracy theory,
publishing numerous articles about it, as did the Daily Beast with a steady stream of
articles. Even the New York Times promoted the conspiracy theory that Russia had
kompromat on the President, based on a brief meeting attended by one of Trump's sons
in Trump Tower. Entire books were written on all the kompromat that the Kremlin
supposedly had on President Trump, which were eagerly cited across mainstream
media.

And what was this kompromat that Russia had over Trump, per our august media
institutions? Putin apparently had sex tapes of Trump with prostitutes peeing on him.

It seems so ridiculous that anyone—let alone our most august media institutions—
believed this in hindsight. We now know that the pee tape stemmed from Hillary
Clinton's campaign. But the kompromat conspiracy theory was essential for the
Democrats' narrative that Russia possessed boundless influence over the president.
For the Washington Post, the (made-up) kompromat meant Trump was "an agent of
Russia." For CNN, it meant Trump was a "Russian asset." The exact same talking point
was repeated ad nauseam across the media in places like The Atlantic, The New
Republic, Slate, Wired, and nightly on MSNBC. The specific nature of the kompromat or
how Trump was a Russian agent or asset was never fixed or established, and depended
upon the creativity of journalist imagination. Max Boot perfectly captured the zeitgeist in
an article for the Washington Post entitled, "Here are 18 reasons Trump could be a
Russian asset."

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All the kompromat talk swiftly ended the moment Joe Biden became president because
surely no foreign government could have any dirt on him. This left no one to ask the
obvious question: Could Ukrainian officials have kompromat on Joe, given all the
allegations of his corruption in Ukraine?
 US President Joe Biden speaks alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky during a G7 declaration of joint support for Ukraine on July 12,
2023 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
PAUL ELLIS - POOL/GETTY IMAGES

It's a much more reasonable question about Joe Biden than it ever was when posed as
a certainty about Trump. After all, Hunter Biden was paid many millions of dollars by the
shady Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, despite having no qualifications for the job that
anyone could point to beyond being the son of the Vice President at the time—which
proved fortunate when his father fired the general prosecutor of Ukraine, Viktor Shokin,
who had begun an investigation into the Burisma-Hunter gravy train.

And yet, in obvious contrast with their obsession with Russia's kompromat on Trump,
the mainstream media has lined up to dismiss the corruption allegations against Biden
as a nothingburger. This has been no easy feat, and yet the media has valiantly obliged,
arguing repeatedly that Hunter Biden was paid by Burisma for reasons that had nothing
to do with the fact that his father was the Vice President at the time overseeing U.S.
relations with Ukraine—and that Joe did not have any knowledge of his son's highly
lucrative business dealings. And they would have you believe Vice President Biden fired
Shokin because Shokin was corrupt.

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The latest evidence exposes the media's talking points as pure propaganda. On July 31,
2023, Devon Archer testified to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and
Accountability about both Joe's relationship to Burisma and why he fired Shokin. Archer
was Hunter Biden's close friend who served alongside him on the board of Burisma.
Under oath, Archer testified that Burisma paid Hunter millions of dollars solely because
his father was Vice President. Burisma would have gone out of business without "the
brand" and the brand was Joe, Archer testified. Per Archer, Joe Biden was involved in the
racket; he was put on speakerphone in business meetings at least 20 times.

Archer also testified that Shokin was fired by Joe not for being a corrupt prosecutor but
for investigating the millions of dollars Burisma was paying Hunter, whom the company
owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, said was stupider than his dog. In subsequent interviews,
Archer has even more clearly confirmed that Shokin was fired for pursuing Burisma's
enormous payoffs to the Biden family.

All of this is well-known to Ukrainian officials. Shokin himself released a video directly
rebutting Biden loyalists in the American media, in which he explains in detail why Vice
President Biden threatened Ukraine's president with holding back critical American aid if
Shokin was not immediately replaced with a dud.
 MAZE
@mazemoore · Follow

This is Viktor Shokin. He is the Ukrainian prosecutor that

Biden accused of being corrupt and had removed.

In this video he responds to accusations that his

investigation into Burisma was dormant or that he was
corrupt. He tells the truth about why he was removed as
prosecutor.… Show more

Watch on Twitter

5:34 AM · Aug 4, 2023

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"The depiction of these investigations as dormant has nothing to do with reality of the
facts," Shokin said. "Mr. Biden was told that we were going to start questioning his son
and others, Archer and others, all involved in the Burisma case. And everyone
understood very well that this fight was going to end badly for them... Biden had
understood what was looming... We were about to reach the outcome of this case.
Having understood all this, Biden used all the unofficial means at his disposal... Biden
was acting on behalf of his own interests, for his family... Joe Biden had reason to fear
that all this would eventually fall on his son."
For his pains, Biden replaced Shokin with a new prosecutor, who promptly closed the
Burisma investigation.

Nothing that has emerged recently has the shock value of a pee tape. But perhaps that's
because it's all true. It is also consistent with the materials found on Hunter's notorious
laptop, which contains emails from Burisma executives pleading with Biden to use his
influence to stop the pressure on them by Ukrainian officials.

READ MORE

Ukraine Doesn't Owe the West Any Thanks

The Real Victim of the Russiagate Hoax Wasn't Me but the American
People

Nobody Is Entitled to Their Own Facts on Ukraine

Unlike the pee tape and other unsubstantiated charges of Russian kompromat against
Trump, the evidence is robust that Joe Biden abused his power as Vice President to
massively enrich his family through influence peddling. The Vice President successfully
threatened to withhold financial aid if the Ukrainian president did not immediately put to
bed an investigation exposing the Biden racket.
Despite the evidence of Biden's corruption in Ukraine, the Zelensky government has not
outed Joe for his sordid history in his country. But why would Zelensky need to expose
Biden? At tremendous American cost, Biden is leading the largest war since World War II
to help Ukraine.

Yet as American public support for it dries up, one cannot help but wonder how much
freedom President Biden has to step back from this immense war effort, even if he
wanted.

One thing is for sure: If President Trump were waging this kind of massive effort on
behalf of a foreign power, America's legacy media would be calling him a foreign asset.

Max Abrahms, Ph.D., is a professor of political science at Northeastern University and

author of Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

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Don P
14 hours ago
A man gets paid millions of dollars to work in an industry he has zero knowledge of in a country
where he doesn't even speak the language and there are actually people out there who will
swear this is perfectly logical and there is no reason to wonder why. Those people need to take
a serious look a...
See more
Reply · 42 18 · Share
7 replies

M Mapk
10 hours ago
@AmericanLieALot
From CNN - Hunter Biden sues computer repair shop owner who worked on a laptop, accusing
him of trying to invade his privacy.
Not only was the laptop his, the data was also.
Even the blind can see that.
Reply · 9 2 · Share
1 reply

Rafterman
14 hours ago
It doesn't take a conspiracy theory to see the ramifications of Russia taking Ukraine and getting
right to NATO's Poland border. Right wingers just can't seem to grasp the strategic
consequences of losing Ukraine. There is nothing suspicious about our support.
 
There is, however, a LOT of suspicion a...
See more (Edited)
Reply · 21 26 · Share
7 replies

TooLooseLowTrek
11 hours ago
 The Donald should never have made that phone call. Rather, he should have patiently and
quietly worked the room until Biden & Son's compromised dealings were irrevocably traced and
substantiated. Real estate moguls, particularly those schooled in the bluster of New York City
and other world venues,...
See more
Reply · 8 5 · Share
1 reply

S ShirleyUJest
11 hours ago
Sure might help explain the billions of dollars we're throwing at them with no oversight and no
audit.
Reply · 9 4 · Share
1 reply

J Joannk
14 hours ago
So, what's wrong with the people that voted for Biden?
What's wrong with the 38% that still approve of him?
Our Founding Fathers weren't wrong, some people are too uninformed to vote.
Reply · 20 19 · Share
7 replies

Jill Weber
12 hours ago
I see that Maxie couldn't be bothered to do any fact-checking. If he had, he would have known
that a) Biden can't fire people in Ukraine. b) Shokin is the one who shelved the investigation into
Burisma back in 2015. c) Biden wasn't the only one calling for Shokin's ouster. The list of people
who wa...
See more
Reply · 14 17 · Share
3 replies

Bill Melton
6 hours ago
Does Newsweek have fact checkers? This guy says: "Archer also testified that Shokin was fired
by Joe not for being a corrupt prosecutor but for investigating the millions of dollars Burisma was
paying Hunter."
 
Archer never said any such thing. From the transcript:
 
"Shokin wasn't specifically on my r...
See more
Reply · 2 · Share
 1 reply

Gran
12 hours ago
This was the first honest article I have read in a leftist publication about Biden's corruption in
Ukraine. Thank you!
 
BILLIONS of US taxpayer dollars, without oversight, to one of the most corrupt countries in the
world. Come on man that is hush money for Ukraine not to tell all they know about ...
See more
Reply · 22 7 · Share
2 replies

AmericanPatriot
16 hours ago
After the ridiculous Hunter laptop fabrication whose to believe anything the maga-GOP comes
up with???
The Amazing Hunter Laptop Story
A computer repair shop owner in Wilmington, Del., named John Paul Mac Isaac (who is
legally blind) claims Hunter Biden left a damaged Apple computer at his shop in Ap...
See more

Reply · 31 28 · Share
7 replies

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